Where Wizards Stay Up Late: Who Built the Internet and Why

Once upon a time the Internet was called the Information Superhighway.  Writers of note predicted the Internet would topple most major social institutions, and my favorite web site was The Center for the Easily Amused. Since then, the Internet has evolved into an always-online world running on social media, a part of most Americans’ lives so ubiquitous we hardly notice.  How our online preoccupation has preyed upon us as individuals and as a society has inspired considerable commentary, but at the beginning was something called ARPAnet inspired by an egalitarian idealism that imagined a second enlightenment.  This course will acquaint students with those people responsible for the visions and various technical advancements that created the first computer networks, and what they thought was going to happen.  From this, students can measure the promise of the Internet against what we see today.  The course does not assume a technical background, but we will learn a little coding and technical language. This course fulfills the FYS general education requirement.